Rubber thread



RUBBER 'THREA Filed Aug. 24, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb., 1, 1938;. J, R. GAMMETER v 2,107,032

RUBBER'THREAD Filed Aug. 24, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l I M] fil E' fg; :E

I 1i Mummmnmi (r1 fiiii l' ATI'OR EYl Patented Feb. 1, 1938 v John R. (lammeter,

Y Akron, Ohio, assigner, by mesne assignments, to

United States Rubber Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Appncetibnnugustzi, 19,33, serial No; 686,583

17 Claims.

'Ihis invention relates to the manufacture .of rubber thread and to a method for the continuous and rapid production of such thread in a simple and inexpensive manner from a suitable rubbercontaining fluid such as a solution or dispersion of rubber or rubber-like material. Y 1

Other advantages willreadily appear from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figs. la, 1b, and 1c are side elevations of the apparatus, bottom, mid and top sections, respectively, the apparatus lbeing arbitrarily divided into three sections in the drawings for facilitating the illustration thereof;

Fig. 2 is a detail side elevation showing the apparatus for applying4 the rubber-containing fluid to the traveling wire. f

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the travelling wire; and v Figs. 4a, and 4b are front elevationsof the apparatus, bottom and top portions respectively, the apparatus being arbitrarily divided into two sections in the drawingsv for facilitating the illustration thereof. s

According to the invention, a vrubber-containing fluid, preferably an aqueous dispersion of rubber or rubber-like material, is applied to the ysurface of a travelling wire `having at least one comparatively sharp longitudinal edge, and the 30 rubber is deposited from the dispersion ontogthe surface of the wire by a drying operation, which may be preceded by a chemical coagulation of the rubber, if desired. The rubber deposit is stripped off the travelling wire in thread form, 35 the deposit being divided along the sharp edge or edges of the wire by the stripping operation. If a wire haw'ng only a single sharp longitudinal edge is used, a single thread which will be hollow and slit longitudinally will be formed. l If a flat rib- 49 bon-like wire is used, two threads, one fromeach face of the ribbon,'will be formed. A triangular wire, as shown in the illustrationswill produce three threads, one from each flatface thereof, and in like manner an increase-in the number of sharp edges above three will produce a corresponding increase in the number of threads. Such threads formedon aflat face of a ribbon wire, or triangular wire, yor the like will be lens shaped in cross-section more exactly plano-con- Vex. The rubber-containing .fluid is preferably a latex containing vulcanizing ingredients, and preferably contains a lowftemperature accelerator so that the .rubber may become vulcanized during the dryingV operation prior to stripping from the wire. So called vulcanized latex may be used if desired.y The latex is preferably concentrated by an evaporation, or a chemical or a mechanical creaming process, as is well known in the art. 50 Referring to the drawings, illustrating a present preferred apparatus for carrying out the invention, an endless triangular wire I0 travels under a drum II driven by amotorY assembly I2, and over a second drum I3, parallel to the drum I I. The drums II and I3 have a series of par.- allel circumferential grooves across the -width thereof shaped to fit the travelling wire, and the wire is fed from one groove of the bottom drum to the corresponding groove of the top drum and then around the next groove of the bottom drum, and then top drum, and similarly across the width of the drums, where the wire is fedwith the help of Apulleys I4 and I5 back to the startinggroove of the drums.

The lower surface of drum II is immersed in a tank of coagulant I6 so that theA Wire may be wet with coagulant before passing through the latex I1 in tank I8 shown in detail in Figure 2. The various passes of wire wet .with coagulant are wiped by means of a wiper I9 at the bottom of the tank I8 through which the wire enters the latex bath, the wiper also acting to prevent the downward flow of latex through the aperture in the bottom of the tank.

The wire leaves the tank I8 and passes-through a vertical drying chamber 20, (see Figures lar and lb) entering at 2I and leaving at, 22, hot air for the drying entering at 23 and leaving at 24, to be returned to the fan, washer and heater (not shown) and to be recirculated at 23. The wire leaving the drier at 22 with the dried rubber deposit,v preferably vulcanized, passes through a .talcer 25 and the rubber deposit is removed from each face of the wire in the form of a thread by take-off rolls 26, 21 and 28 rotated by means of a small motor assembly 29 and the necessary pulleys and belts. The thread T as stripped from the travelling wire is fed to thread containers 30.

As shown in Figures 4a and 4b there are as many passes of wire as there are grooves in the surface ofv drums II and I3 and if one deposit of latex gives a rubber film of suiiicient thickness,'the take-olf rolls 26, 21 and 28 may pull off threads from each pass of the endless wire. `If desired, the` threads may. be' stripped from every other pass of wire, in which case the threads will be correspondingly heavier since formed by a double deposition process. In like manner, threads may be stripped off vfrom every third or fourth pass of wire, and so on. It has been found advantageous to apply coagulant prior to the coating with latex but if desired the coagulant Vbath I6 may be omitted entirely.

In operation, as may be clearly seen from the drawings, each pass of the wire I0 is fed through `the coagulant bath I6, through the latex bath I1, I t

where a film of latex is coagulated on the wire, through the drier 20 where the coagulum is dried and preferably vulcanized, and then through the talcer 25. The threads are stripped off each face of Whatever passs of the travelling wire may be desired, by means of pull off rolls 26, 21 and 28 and then fed to appropriate thread containers 30, or other collecting means.

As various modifications other than those suggested herein will occur to those skilled in the art, it is not intended to limit the invention other than as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectrbyrLetters Patent is:

1. 'Ihe method of making rubber thread comprising depositing rubber from a rubber-containing fluid onto a travelling wire having at least one comparatively sharp longitudinal edge and stripping the rubber deposit from the wire surface in thread form. f

2. The method of making rubber thread comprising depositing rubber from a rubber-containing fiuid onto a travelling wire having at least one comparatively sharp longitudinal edge where- Yby the rubber Will deposit thinly over said edge and be easily divisible therealong, and dividing the rubber deposit along said edge and stripping the same from the wire surface in thread form.

3. The method of making rubber thread comprising depositing rubber directly from an aqueous dispersion of rubber ontofa travelling wire having at least one comparatively sharp longitudinal edge and stripping the rubber deposit from the wire surface in thread form. Y

4. The method of making rubber thread comprising depositing rubber directly from an aqueous dispersion of rubber onto a travelling wire having at least one comparatively sharp longitudinal edge whereby the rubber will deposit thinly over said edge and be easily divisible therealong, and dividing the rubber deposit along said edge and stripping the same from the Wire surface in thread form.

5. The method of making rubber thread comprising applying 'an aqueous dispersion of rubber onto the surface of a travelling Wire having at least one comparatively sharp longitudinal edge, drying the deposit on the Wire, and stripping the dried rubber deposit from the surface in thread form. 1

6. The method `of making rubber thread comprising applying an aqueous dispersion of rubber ontothe surface of a travelling wire having at least one comparatively sharp longitudinal edge whereby the rubber will deposit thinly over said edge, drying the deposit on the wire, and dividing the rubber deposit along said edge and stripping the same from the Wire in thread form.

7. The method of making rubber thread comprising chemically coagulating acoating of an aqueous4 dispersionV of rubber on the surface of a travelling wireihaving at least one 'comparatively sharp longitudinal edge, ldrying the coagulum on the Wire, and dividing the dried deposit along the edge and stripping the same from the Wire in thread form.

8. The method of making rubber thread comprising depositing rubberV from a rubber dispersion onto a travelling Wire having a plurality of comparatively sharp longitudinal edges, whereby the rubber will deposit thinly over said edges and comparatively thickly over the other portions of the surface, and dividing the rubber deposit along said edges and stripping a plurality of threads from the portions of the surface between said sharp edges. l g

9. 'I'he method of making rubber thread comprising applying an aqueous' dispersion of rubber onto the surface of a travelling wire having a plurality of comparatively sharp longitudinal edges, drying the deposit on the wire, and dividing the dried deposit along said edges and vstripping a plurality of threads from the portions of the surface between said sharp edges.

10. The method of making rubber thread comprising chemically 'coagulating a coating of an aqueous dispersion of rubber on the surface of a travelling wire having a plurality of comparatively sharp longitudinal edges, drying the coagulum on the wire, and ldividing theY dried deposit along said edges and stripping a plurality ofV threads from the portions of the surface .between said sharp longitudinal edges. Y

11. 'Ihe method of making rubber thread comprising applying any aqueous dispersionv of rubber onto the surface of atravellingtriangular wire, drying the deposit on the wire, and strip-l ping olf the dried rubber from the facesof the wire between. the .edges thereof to form rubber thread. 12. The method of making rubber thread comprising depositing rubber from a rubber dispersion on the surface of a travelling triangular Wire whereby the rubber will deposit` thinly over the sharp edges thereof andcomparatively thickly over the faces thereof, and dividing the rubber deposit along said edges and stripping olf the rubber in thread form from the faces between said edges. f

13. The method of making rubber thread comprising coagulating an aqueous dispersion of rubber on the surface of a travelling triangular Wire, and stripping the coagulum from the faces of the wire between the edges thereof in thread form.

14. The method of making rubber threadv comprising chemically coagulatingan aqueous dis- Y persion of rubber on the surface of a travelling triangular wire, drying the coagulum on the wire, and stripping the dried deposit from` the faces of the wire between the edges thereof Yin thread form. 15. In an apparatus for making rubber thread, a travellingwire having at least one compara-v tively sharp longitudinal edge,'mean`s forapply ing a rubber-containing liquid coating material onto said Wire, means for drying said material, and means for stripping olf the driedl rubber kde.- posit in thread form. i

16. In an apparatus for makingrubber thread, a travelling triangular wire,means for applying a rubber-contaning liquid coatingmaterialonto said wire, means for drying saidmaterial, and means for stripping off the dried rubber deposit from each of the three faces -of'the wire in thread form.

17. In an apparatus for making rubber'thread, a travelling wire having a .plurality of faces and comparatively sharp longitudinal edges between said faces, means for applying a rubber-con# taining liquid coating material onto saidV Wire, means for drying said material, and means for stripping off the dried rubberdepositwfrom the faces of the wire between the edges thereof 'in thread form. Y 1 Y JOHN R. GAMMETIER. 

